snoring 3 yr old

[mollythetortoise]

my ds snores like a 65 year old man every night. he sleeps with us most nights and it is really loud and often disturbs us.

This is not a big problem except he also seems to go for long ish periods (10 sec or so) when he doesn't seem to take an in-breath, like he is stuggling to breath and then takes massive noisy in-breath and makes aloud snoring sound. It doesn't seem to wake him up though. his nostrils seem slightly flared.

Is this something to be concerned about? he doesn't have a cold or hayfever or anything blocking his nostrils as far as I can tell.

he breathes normally when awake.

any ideas?

This could be my DS. It got progressively worse since xmas this year and so we took him to GP. I've alays noticed his tonsils seemed huge (the GP agreed) and so he was referred to the ENT clinic for a proper look.
Enlarged tonsils can be a cause of sleep apnea, although it's normal for kids age 1-6 to have large tonsils. It's only a problem if it disrupts sleep/breathing.
So the ent clinic decided to do a sleep study, and I was sent home with a toe clip to mnitor his breathing and oxygen saturation levels. Although his pulse dropped below their limit all through the night, they were most worried about o2 sats and his were fine (95%). They think he'll grow out of it and although he still snores, I think it's slightly improving. I don't keep waking every half hour to check he's still breathing! Defo take your DS to GP and ask to have a referral to ENT, however, they don't always choose to do a sleep study unless they think it really warrants it. Sleep apnea is described as 10 seconds or more stopping of brething.
Our hospital said they really didn't want to remove tonsils as he wasn't having bouts of tonsilitis and the problem had improved sicne the sleep study. It can also be andenoids too that are also enlarged.

I'd def see your GP as his sounds to me like sleep apnea (the bit where you describe him not breathing in then the nosy breath). We recently had a talk at work about sleep disorders from a paediatrician and this was one of the key features to look out for.

My daughter had her tonsils removed due to repeated tonsillitis and sleep apnoea. Her symptoms were similar to your son's.

A few breaths snoring loudly, then stopping altogether but you could see she was trying to breath, then she would wake slightly, breath in sharply and then start snoring again. this went on all night. She was a different child after the op. She grew more, slept better and was generally happier.

Sadly four years later the sleep apnoea seems to be returning and there are not many other treatment options which is a shame but we will explore them because it can apparently have other long term health implications.

I would definitely see your GP about this.

thank you very much. I will definately see my gp

Different experience here.

Same symptoms in my almost 3 year old last year - referred to ENT - listened to our case history and had a look at tonsils and decided then and there to take out tonsils and adenoids. No sleep study (which I was expecting). And he didn;t have a history of tonsilitis.

Operation wasn't much fun but his sleep is 5000 times better since then and I'm glad we had it done.

That's interseting Zakuro. which hospital was that at out of interest?

The clinic was in Beckenham (Kent) and the hospital was the PRUH at Franborough.